Upon returning from leave (a spa break doing absolutely nothing) this week, I have trained twice in the gym and have started to feel the effects of this; I must admit to not wanting to get out of bed this morning to cycle in to work. However, having set up my kit and bike the night before it would have been rude not to.
Armed with all the knowledge about training in a rut etc I proceeded to cycle as hard as I could for the 50 minutes it took me to get into work – probably missed out on all of the autumnal scenes with mist and golden leaves etc. The air temperature was comfortable but I chose winter gloves – can’t stand cold fingers, I think this goes back to my rugby days when I was a child, sometimes my hands hurt with the cold and it was a total relief to get into the warm. The point is that I arrived at work feeling fine but didn’t put in a very good time so I guess there is something in this mixed training effort thing. Homer would have said, ‘Doh, stupid brain!’.
A friend at work reminded me yesterday that my blogs should start with an eye catching statement that will grab the readers’ attention – maybe the previous article about seat pack weight and contents was wide of the mark here. So this time I decided to take his advice and talk about the new sleep mat (804g un-inflated) and Trangia Fuel Bottle (793g unfilled) that I bought yesterday – you lucky people.
I have been using a cheap foam mat, very thin and only really insulates, not comfortable to sleep on plus its pack volume is largish. I forked out on a coffin shaped, self inflating Ultralite mat made by Hi-Gear – it’s awesome and packs down well. I have yet to try but I am hoping it will fit inside my sleeping bag to make things neater and easier in my tent. Being bright orange it will also serve to get me into such shows as Beech Rescue and Highland Rescue very easily (helicopter ride at the tax payers’ expense). The only downside is that it requires meticulous stowing – all the air has to be expelled. The best way I have found to do this comes from a throw back to my skydiving days, before the canopy was ready to be folded into the deployment bag I used to lie full length on it to expel trapped air – works a treat on the sleep mat.
The fuel bottle will contain methelated spirit for my Trangia Mini Stove, it has a push valve at the top to deliver a steady flow of fuel into the burner when it is being filled. It’s a multi fuel bottle so if I upgrade to a different burner it will still be useful. The only downside is that it doesn’t quite fit in my bottle cage (I’ll be using the attachment point on the underside of the down tube – one of three cages I’ll be carrying) so I will have to rig some type of elastic retaining strap. I don’t think it will pop out given the type of riding that I will be doing but I don’t fancy crunching on uncooked pasta.
These new items have been added to my spreadsheet, eventually I will end up with the gross weight of the bike, I can then start to whittle down the stuff I don’t really need. The other issue will be my own weight – could lose a kilo, every little helps.
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